Wine and Dine - Local

Many of our corporate groups want to include a restaurant dinner with their wine tour, so over the years, we’ve come up with a few favorite dining spots that welcome groups, without stuffing them into a little banquet room. Afternoon wine tours with a restaurant dinner are also perfect this time of year, when the outdoor picnic time subsides until next Spring. This week is a profile piece about a wine tour with dinner out at The Table, in Willow Glen.

Assuming you’ll be having meetings in the morning followed by lunch at the office, we start your tour with a 1:30 pm pick up time. Your chauffeur calls you upon arrival to your office to let you know he/she is there, a few minutes before your scheduled departure time. Come on out!

Step onto the executive luxury coach (black, with leather seats), and a short drive later, we have you at one of our favorite wineries – Savannah-Chanelle in Saratoga. Savannah and Chanel are the owner’s two daughters and the winery is named after them (with a slight change in the spelling of “Chanelle”, thanks to a polite request by the perfume company). Over the years, this 58-acre property in the hills above Saratoga has been a few different wineries, beginning with Pierre Pourroy’s back in the late 1800’s, and it’s a charming, relaxing place with nice views, the pink winemaker’s villa that was Pierre’s dream home, and even a redwood grove down below the winery.

Start inside the old redwood barn, inside the rustic Tasting Room. Try a couple of wines and then your winery host will take you on a fun and informative walking taste-tour of the property – you bring the glass, they bring the wine and your tasting is conducted along the way! You’ll see the old-vine Zin and learn what head-pruned means, see the pink villa and hear a ghost story, check out the views from the top of the driveway and then enter the wine cellar below the Tasting Room. If it’s raining, you can still tour the Tank Room and wine cellar. It’s fun, it’s interactive and team-bonding, and makes your wine tour even more of a special event.

Next, it’s up to the historic and grand Mountain Winery, where your host, Jesse Montenegro will regale you with tales of Paul Masson and John Steinbeck, and a few fun facts about the amazing history of this winery, as you sample the Reserve Series wines. During the Winter, their indoor wine bar Tasting Room is open inside the main winery building, and set with lots of bistro tables where your group can sit and enjoy a nice chat – there’s even a covered patio right outside that overlooks the famous concert bowl. Beautiful cheese platters can be ordered to enjoy…

Your wine tour concludes with a dinner at The Table, a cool, urban farmhouse kind of place, located right on Lincoln Avenue in downtown Willow Glen. Wine, cocktails, and Family-Style service are their trademarks, along with great food and most importantly – you are seated in the heart of the restaurant where you can enjoy the full ambiance of the evening with your colleagues, clients and friends.

We look forward to touring with you sometime soon, and to taking you….Here!